Study: Breast Implants Hinder Cancer Detection, Increase Death Risk

A picture taken on March 28, 2013 in Marseille, southeastern France, shows a breast implant produced by the implant manufacturer Poly Implant Prothese company (PIP). The now-bankrupt PIP was shut down and its products banned in 2010 after it was revealed to have been using industrial-grade silicone gel that caused abnormally high rupture rates. Between 300,000 and 400,000 women in 65 countries from Europe to Latin America have received implants made with sub-standard silicone gel by PIP, once the world's third-largest producer of silicone implants. The trial against implant manufacturer Poly Implant Prothese company (PIP) begins April 17 to May 17 2013. AFP PHOTO / GERARD JULIEN (Photo credit should read GERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images)File photo of a breast implant. (Photo by GERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images)

ATLANTA (CBS Atlanta) — According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, breast implants do not cause a problem for mothers hoping to breastfeed their children.

“There have been no recent reports of clinical problems in infants of mothers with silicone breast implants,” a post on the CDC’s official website notes. “Researchers noted that silicon is present in higher concentrations in cow’s milk and infant formula than in human milk expressed from mothers with silicone breast implants.”

But while children aren’t necessarily at risk from implants, their mothers might be. A new study has found that breast implants increase a woman’s chances of dying from cancer.

According to a group of Canadian researchers, implants make it harder for the cancer to be detected in its earlier stages because of the shadows they cast in mammograms.

In order to reach their conclusion, the team poured over data collected from 12 different studies that represented women not only from Canada, but from the United States and northern Europe as well, the Times of India is reporting.

The researchers reportedly found that women who had undergone breast augmentation were 26 percent more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer in later stages of the disease than women without implants.

“[T]he accumulating evidence suggests that women with cosmetic breast implants who develop breast cancer have an increased risk of being diagnosed as having non-localized breast tumors more frequently than do women with breast cancer who do not have implants,” study authors were quoted as saying.

Five additional studies reviewed by the team found that risk of death from breast cancer was also increased 38 percent because of the effects of implants on the screening process.

Researchers additionally noted that the results of their study “should be interpreted with caution as some studies included in the meta-analysis on survival did not adjust for potential confounders [sic].”